Quick Trip To Beechworth

[ChrisM]

I managed to get away last week thanks to an invite from "dozer" and have a quick dig around Beechworth.
He told me about a nice spot he found and wanted to give it a workout with the h/banker.
How can you say no when a mate asks for some help....
Finished work early and took the 2 hour trip to Dozers place, jumped in his car and then drove 6 hours to Albury
It was raining all that week in Sydney but a few hours South was a different place

Up at 6AM the next morning and a quick 30min drive to "the spot" we set up the H/Banker and got to work
Dozer was in his element just feeding the machine with dirt.

Took the time to test pan every hour or so just to make sure something was showing up and then this showed up

Boy did that get us moving. Apparently thats considered a great size for the area.
We were fortunate enough to run into a nice local bloke called Allen who wasent short of great information about the area and the type of gold around. He pointed us towards some new areas for some slightly coarser gold and spent some time showing us some panning skills. A top bloke to bump into. He challenged us to a Highbanker Ho-down at a spot of his choice next time we're in town.[I'm up for that].

The Dozer at work

Doing what i do best....sitting down on the job.
When they told me that the place has "fine" gold they forgot to mention how fine it is. This place is perfect if you want to test out your panning and patience. Both of which i dont have...
Managed to do a first cleanout tonight [boy that stuff is tuff to pan]
Overall a few specs and a few grams. Not bad for a days digging.

 

[Mystyk59]

Great pics Chris ! And some nice gold mate .

 

[joe]

Thats a great story Chris and good looking color mate. Where is Dozer these days have not seen him posting or kids took his computer again?

You gave me a short notice (that afternoon) " Hey Joe wana go for a dig?" Victoria? lol

Well done you have now beaten your old record (close to 3 grams a day) thats awesome

 

[aushunter]

Very nice indeed, good to see the "banker" working nicely.
Good luck on future hunts
Brad....

 

[axeman]

Good story, good photos, and good gold, well done. It would take me ages to finds that gold. Good luck and keep the stories and photos coming. Mick

 

[WalnLiz]

Inspirational Chris...great to see guys who are prepared to travel thousands of kilometers to find some flour gold to hone their panning skills. ..just kidding ...well done and looks like you had a great time...Cheers Wal.

 

[Dozer]

It sure was a great weekend, good to get out of the rain and humidity of Sydney. Having Chris there was great, we work well as a team especially when our mate Jack Daniels tags along. The ground was hard but that has never stopped me and the end result was worth it. I'm still around Joe but no use both of us posting the same story. There has to be an easier way to separate the fine stuff from the sand. Looking forward to our next trip.

 

[joe]

There is an easier way Goerge,

[option 1] I'm almost finished the miller table. Last night glued the angles to the stone two part epoxy. You're more than welcome to use it after visiting Tuena.

[option 2] make your own clean up sluice as per picture all up about 20 bucks

 

[Dozer]

Thanks for the offer Joe. I think I will give you $40 and you can make one for me since your the expert.

 

[elbowgrease]

Nice one! I dream of the days I might be able to get that much gold from Beechworth \ Eldorado, I'm pretty sure the biggest thing standing in my way is a lack of highbanker LOL Sieving is sooooo time consuming, but the sluicing is still a good bit of fun. Was up there for only a couple hours yesterday, tried some new ground and was surprised to get onto some nicer coarser gold, much easier to clean up the cons than the usual fly poo sized stuff we get from there!

Adam

 

[Dozer]

Your right there I'm still looking for the coarser pieces...